When it Rains
by Penguin King
Summary: Unrelated to my other story. When it rains, as the saying goes, it pours. Ash has grown up, but not much has changed. He has his pokemon and his friends close to his heart. Some closer than others. But when reports of strange electrical phenomenon spread, he'll encounter old enemies. And they aren't what they used to be. Pokeshipping.


Rain splattered against the window of the skyrise office. The wind whistled between buildings, and lightning occasionally struck in the distant mountain range. Giovanni sat in his chair, back to the door, looking out the big window. These were the kinds of storms he looked forward too. It was times like this that strange and wondrous things could happen. Things that could be harnessed and controlled. Things that could be captured.

"The electrical output of the storm isn't normal," said the man behind him. "Based on our past data, we feel confident in saying that this is another anomaly. This could be what we've been tracking, or at least something similar."

"What do you think it is?" Giovanni asked the man.

"Could be a Zapdos, maybe a Raikou. Something strong. Through our research, we're getting closer to predicting when and where it will show up. We'll catch it eventually."

Giovanni nods his head. "Send out a recon team. We're going to begin mobilizing our capture forces, and storm the slopes. Whatever it is out there, I want it."

The man nodded. "Yes, sir." He walked out of the room to carry out his orders. As he left, another walked in.

"What have you been able to find out?" Giovanni asked the newcomer.

"Not much more than our scientists, unfortunately." The man had a casual nonchalance about him. He was at ease in the boss's company, unlike so many others. "Whatever it is, it's unknown. We get reports from up and down the whole range. For the last few months, these electrical anomalies have sprung up. Trainers try to find it, but never see even a hint of what it is. Some local researchers have found some clues through electrostatic wave discharge patterns. Our guys are working on the same thing. Each storm that happens helps them get closer to tracking it when it isn't using electricity."

"Have them make a prediction for where it will be then," Giovanni commanded. "Make the prediction, and that's where we'll send our troops."

The man left the room. Giovanni still looked outside. More lightning. More rain.

Helicopters beat their way across the clear sky over the mountain range.

"Our sensors and estimates are giving us an approximate location of the last occurance!" a scientist yelled above the noise of the rotors.

The squad leader the man was talking to gave a nod. "How long?!" he yelled back.

"Should only be a few miles out now!"

The leader looked out the door at his tracking squad. He was in the lead helicopter, with another four flying in formation nearby, and another group a little way down the range, trying to track down whatever it was that was producing the electrical disturbances. He had a strong suspicion that it was one of the legendary electric pokemon. His best guess was a Raikou that had been wounded. That would explain it's limited range, and the frequency of the disturbances they were having. If he could catch it, it would do wonders for his career inside the organization.

"Hey, we've got some company coming up behind us!" the pilot yelled over the comset. "It's moving pretty fast!" The pilot gestured to his radar. The squad leader moved up the helicopter to have a look at the radar. There was indeed a blip, closing fast.

He left the pilot station and went back to the open door, peering outside. He saw the culprit. A streak of brown and white zoomed by overhead. The air disturbance of the passing object caused the helicopter to wobble in the air a little, but the pilot didn't lose control. "Just a hunting Pidgeot! Nothing to worry about!"

"We're getting closer to the target!" the scientist yelled at the squad leader. "We're picking up traces of bioelectric pulses. From what I can tell, it's a match from our previous readings." The scientist adjusted the pieces of equipment he had with him onboard, doing something to the images that were on the display. The squad leader had no idea what it was, but he took the mans word for it.

"We've got another problem!" the pilot told the leader.

"What is it now?"

"Well, look ahead."

Getting frustrated, the leader looked ahead. There were the beginnings of dark clouds. As he looked out the window, small droplets of rain started to fall. The beginnings of a storm. His heartbeat jumped. This was it. He was getting close. He just knew it.

"I don't feel comfortable flying much closer, but we can keep going if you want."

"No, this is fine. Let everyone else know. We're dropping off here."

"Got it, boss." The pilot changed his radio and started talking into his comset, alerting the other helicopter pilots of the change in plans.

Ropes dropped from the helicopters, and men began repelling down them and organizing into three groups, each one being directed by a man with an earpiece. The squad leader was about to repel down himself, when the scientist in the helicopter with him started waving. "We're getting a spike! Something's about to-" He was cut off by a sudden roar of thunder. A lightning bolt fell from the sky, striking the rotor. Sirens and alarms started going off in the pilot station.

"We're going down!" the pilot yelled back at his two passengers. The helicopter was losing what altitude it had, veering sideways. "Brace for impact!"

The two men barely had time to strap themselves in before they crashed in the rocks. The downed helicopter skidded on its belly for a few dozen feet before coming to a stop. The rotor was still spinning, kicking up dust and dirt into the air. Coughing, the leader yelled. "Everyone okay?!" He could barely hear himself over the roar of the blades. He unstrapped himself and went to the scientist. "Get out!" he yelled. He pulled a knife from his belt and cut the man out of his chair. "Quickly!" The man scrambled out the door, keeping his head low. He made his way up to the pilot. The pilot was messing with some control panels. "We need to get out of here!"

"Just give me a second!" The pilot pulled free what looked like a hard drive and stuck it in his flight suit. "Okay! Let's go!" The two men left the downed helicopter, quickly getting out of the way of the rotor blades. The top of the helicopter was smoking from a melted mess at the base of the rotor. The squad leader reached into a pocket and pulled out an earpiece. Putting it into his ear, he quickly established communications with his men. He was having a hard time getting a clear signal, and to make things worse, it was starting to rain even harder.

He called into his earpiece. "Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Squad Lead."

"Alpha," one man chimed in.

"Bravo."

"Charlie."

"Get clear of the helicopters. They might be targeted." No sooner did he speak than another deafening roar of thunder erupt. A blinding light flashed simultaneously, blinding him. Through the hazy purple afterimage, he saw a helicopter separated from it's tail. The chopper spun around in circles, losing control in its descent, as the tail flew in the opposite direction, away from his men fortunately. The other helicopters started to turn and beat hasty retreats. One of them was struck by something on it's underside, and a split second later erupted in flames. "Crap," the squad leader muttered to himself. "Charlie, you're on search and rescue. Find the wreckages.

"Roger." One of the groups split into two and went to separate wreckages.

"Bravo, you secure this area. I don't want any more surprises. Try to restore radio communication with HQ, and be prepared to back up whoever needs you.

"Roger." Another group started spreading out in formation, securing the area.

"Alpha, we're moving on. We aren't going back without answers. Form up past those rock formations." He gestured to an area a hundred yards away. "I'll be there shortly."

"Roger." The last group started advancing in a cautious lope to the designated area.

The squad leader took assessment of his men. Pokemon were being released to accomplish their tasks. It looked like the pilots were being recovered from the wreckages and being treated for their injuries. The last helicopter seemed to be setting down in the distance, away from everything. Well, this was a terrible start, the man thought to himself as he went to join his men by the rock formation.

They were loosely grouped together, ready to respond to anything unusual, seven men in total. "Ground pokemon out. I want to be able to capture this electric anomaly." Gravelers, Golems, Marowaks, and the likes were released from their pokeballs by their trainers, standing at the ready. They had all been trained for situations like this. "We're going to advance through the range cautiously by foot. Spread out, but stay within earshot of each other. We have a good chunk of ground to cover, and not much time. Move fast, stay safe."

"Yes sir!" the men responded in unison, spreading out.

They didn't make it very far before the his earpiece exploded.

"Squad lead, Bravo! We've got a situation!" The sounds of a pitched pokemon battle could be heard over the panicked yells of Bravo.

Squad lead stopped where he was. "Report!"

"We're being attacked by two pokemon! A Samurott and a Sceptile! We can't hold them off! They're too fast!"

"Sir!" One of the Alpha men yelled. "There's an Infernape up ahead!"

The squad lead ran everything in his head. These weren't native pokemon to these mountains. There was a trainer up here. A trainer not afraid to take on several men at once. Before he could give the order to regroup, another man called out in a panic.

"There's a Garchomp behind us!"

He turned around just in time to see the Garchomp rocket across the ground, slamming into an unsuspecting Graveler. The infernape joined in the fray, jumping between pokemon, kicks and punches flying, leaving temporary after images in the rain that still fell around them. "What's going on," the man said in a stupor to himself. Pokemon fell unconscious in the fray around him, not standing a chance against the powerful and obviously well trained pokemon that had surrounded his men. Lightning fell, illuminating the area. There was a small peak not far away from where he was. At the base, there was a man, and at the peak, a pokemon.

Giovanni stood up from his chair and slammed his fist down on the report that sat on his desk. "How stupid do you think I am?!" he yelled at the squad leader. "A Pikachu?! Are you joking?!" He pointed at the door. "Get out. Now." The squad leader left the room in a calm, dignified manner, which irked Giovanni even more. He even seemed a little offended at Giovanni's disbelief. The door closed, and Giovanni sat himself back in his chair, rubbing his temples, looking at the papers in front of him. Honestly.

A knock came at the door to his office. "Come in," he called. His personal assistant, Juliet, entered the room, closing the door quietly behind her. "Can you believe these...these idiots?" Giovanni asked "Do they seriously think I'll believe this drivel about a Pikachu being the cause of these electric storms?

"It certainly is interesting," Juliet responded. She pushed her shoulder length red hair behind one ear with one hand, and set a file in front of Giovanni with her other.

"What's this?" Giovanni asked, picking up the file and opening it.

"It's a report on a person of interest from some former agents."

He glanced through the file in his hands, scanning the pages briefly. An eyebrow rose, and he looked at his assistant. "You're not seriously buying into this, are you?"

She shrugged. "Several agents have given the same report. You think they'd blame it on something stronger, to make themselves look better."

The file was thin. Only a few pages long. Giovanni looked through them again, and set it down. "Is this it?"

"No, that's just a summary of events." Juliet reached into a pocket and pulled out a flash drive. "As you know, every agent report is stored in a database to be sorted through and categorized. The computer ranks the reports based on the agent level, and the rarity of the pokemon involved in the report. This never came to the attention of the administrators, because of it."

Giovanni held his hand out for the flash drive. He held it in his hand, looking at it for a long while before inserting it into his computer. "You think this is worth following up?"

"Honestly? I think it wouldn't go amiss to cover all of our bases."

Giovanni nodded. "Fair enough. I want a synopsis of the trainers in these reports to look through. I have some reading to do. And thinking."

Juliet left the room. Giovanni did have some thinking to do.

~End Chapter

Author's Note

So, I'm trying to get back into writing. I've had this story in my head for a while, and wanted to get it written down. I'm going to try and do this and my other story, The Choices They Have Made, at the same time. We'll see how it goes. I won't make any promises on updates, because...well, we saw how well that went last time. Reviews are always welcome.

~Penguin King


End file.
